Franken-Wheat: My Own Mad Genetic Experiment!

Posted Sep 17 2011 12:13am

The numbers don't lie. Nature's own original wheat has 14 chromosomes. Modern wheat has 42! Those extra 28 chromosomes are all genetic codes cross-bred and genetically engineered to produce proteins to kill fungus, bugs, bacteria, make wheat shorter, faster growing etc. We all know abouts the devasting effects of the wheat protein gluten on celiacs - but what the heck are all those bug-killing proteins doing to you when you eat wheat?

Dr. William Davis presents some provocative theories about what disease conditions wheat may provoke in his new book "Wheat Belly." However, the ones that caught my are are the the effects about things like blood sugar and lipoproteins - the things that affect the heart profoundly and cause heart disease. So I did my own test. Here are some numbers from a test I did on myself - personal numbers before and after wheat - that blew my mind!

I see myself as the perfect test subject because, up until then I had been on a low-fat “Ornish” diet and was taking 3g of prescription niacin daily to lower my LDL Cholesterol and raise my very low HDL Cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol). Here are my lipids before doing my own wheat-free test.

Here are my numbers after six months on the low-carb, no-wheat diet where I added back a significant amount of fat (including a fair amount of saturated fat) to replace the carbs. Note that I also STOPPED talking the prescription niacin during those six months.

Just look at those eye-popping numbers. My LDL Cholesterol went down while my HDL Cholesterol and Triglycerides stayed virtually the same. Most importantly, not only did my total number of LDL Particles drop, my dangerous Small LDL Particles dropped a whopping 68%! That was all accomplished with nothing but dietary changes that also allowed me to eliminate one of my prescription meds to boot! Not a bad day’s work for doing little more than giving up bread, noodles, and pretzels (although I must admit I still miss the pretzels)!